And the first play of that season for the Huskies will be a special teams one — a kickoff, or a kickoff return. That’s an area the Huskies have really worked on throughout training camp to improve, something I spotlighted for my story for today’s paper.

Said safety Justin Glenn of the issues of a year ago and what the team worked on in camp:

“It was just one or two guys not fitting the right way or going out of their lanes. It was the little things that made the big plays happen, and negatively for us. So that’s what they want to do is make sure that each guy knows their assignments and knows what to do to eliminate those big plays that can have a huge impact on the outcome of the game.”

As detailed in the story, it won’t take much for the UW special teams to be an improvement over last year. And in a season that looms as one filled with close games, it hardly needs to be stated how much some special teams improvement could play a role.